Markham, ON – November 4, 2002 - Hospitality vendors are
gearing up for a series of venues this month where cautious hoteliers will
go to evaluate new technologies and other hotel goods for purchase in the
coming year. For many operators, enterprise technology solutions
are at the head of the shopping list. NORTHWIND will be on
hand at each of the following events with its Maestro suite, which includes:
PMS, Sales & Catering, Club/Spa Management, Corporate Reservations
Office, GDS Connectivity, and ResEze (Internet Reservations):
Barnsley Gardens Resort "There are very few independent high-end resorts left in the world and, as an independent, our needs are very different," said Wendy Welch, Director of Finance and Administration for Barnsley Gardens Resort. "We do everything ourselves - engineering, sales and marketing, operations - so my staffing can be significantly higher than other properties." Welch noted that among Barnsley's staff of 230, "everyone across our property has access to the PMS system. “Everyone focuses on anticipating the guest's needs." When Welch bought NORTHWIND’s Maestro system in fourth quarter 2001, the two biggest features she shopped for were an integrated sales and catering and PMS system, and a company that understood their business and was willing to customize software in a way that made sense for Barnsley's processes. "Before Maestro, we could not see in one place what a key corporate client did in their last meeting two weeks ago: did they play golf, who were their VPs, how much did they spend on dinner? We had to go to four or five places in the system. Now we have instant access to all a client's information." Morrissey Hospitality Companies, Inc. “What we looked for – and found - was the right technology to let us unlock yield management and data mine a customer database that is 15 years rich,” said Bill Morrissey, president and founder in 1995 of Morrissey Hospitality Companies, Inc., a Minnesota-based full service management company specializing in lodging, restaurants, and catering. Morrissey explained the company chose the Maestro PMS system from NORTHWIND for basically three reasons: “It is an enterprise system, not a legacy system, with an open database that allows us to data mine for marketing information; it refreshes the numbers real-time as new reservations are entered; and it is user-friendly.” The company installed its new PMS system at two luxury historic hotels: The 254-room, four-star Saint Paul Hotel in March 2002, and at the 61-room St. James Hotel two months later. It did not take long for the system to deliver: Maestro’s Yield Management system helped catapult The Saint Paul Hotel to number one in RevPAR in its competitive set two months after installation, with a little more than $5 a day higher average daily rate (as reported by Smith Travel Research). Columbia Hospitality, Inc. Columbia Hospitality, Inc. (CHI) headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is an expert in hospitality management and consulting services that operates many leading conference centers, inns and resorts in the Pacific Northwest. The company selected NORTHWIND’s Maestro enterprise management suite to automate its 110-room Washington Mutual Leadership Center at Cedarbrook, owned by Seattle based Washington Mutual Inc. "NORTHWIND worked with Columbia Hospitality to provide a comprehensive solution to meet our needs at Cedarbrook. We made the decision to use Maestro to incorporate the Front Office, Sales & Catering, and ResEze online real-time Web reservations. ResEze is helpful because it enables guests to access the property's availability and rates, and to create reservations online over a secure Internet connection," said Cedarbrook's general manager, Erik Ruud. "Cedarbrook will also be using Maestro Yield Management to ensure that we are maximizing use of this beautiful property.” About NORTHWIND
For more information on NORTHWIND’s solutions, consult our Web site at www.maestropms.com/ or contact: Eleonora Di Blasi, (905) 940-1923 ext. 229, or email ediblasi@maestropms.com. |
